Tag Archives: scarab

Two dung beetles doing what they do best. Many dung beetles, known as rollers, are known for rolling dung into spherical balls, used as food or egg chamber. Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa. (Photo Bjorn Grotting)

Now, what is it NOT to love about dung beetles? Actually I can’t think of anything. Take for example the fact that most of the about 5.000 subspecies feed partly or exclusively on feces. Why don’t they ever consider another diet, you may ask? But that is exactly the recipe for their success. Remember Darwin never said “survival of the strongest”, he said “survival of the fittest”. The most adaptable species will succeed, and dung beetles have definitively found their niche.